We’ve already featured a ton of inspiring Halloween parties from many creative & talented people, so I wanted to do a different sort of Halloween post myself… one that highlights several different DIY food & styling ideas that could be utilized in any Halloween celebration.

So, below you’ll find 11 such ideas – from Halloween food & drinks to decor. Whether you’re hosting a big party or just looking to make a festive Halloween snack at home, I hope you can have some fun with these!

Potions Halloween Party Printables

My Potions Halloween Party printables are available in our store! Use them to add instant style and personalized details to your party.  You can edit the custom text yourself – right on the website – whenever (and as often as) you need to! Click here to buy this collection.

1. Creepy Potion Jars

It’s easy to make creepy “potion ingredients” from simple items and colored water. Here, cauliflower + black water = “Zombie Brains”, plastic snake + black water = “Snake Venom”, and sand = “Bone Dust”.

Add decorative labels and tint the water black to make the ingredients even creepier!

I bought the apothecary jars at HomeGoods several years ago, and this is probably the zillionth time they’ve been used… they are SUCH a great party staple to keep on hand.

2. Bat Bites

These little pesto-cheese creatures are adorable and so easy to make! Get the recipe here.

I feel like the ingredients in the recipe make it more of a grown-up treat, but you could follow this same styling method with sweet ingredients to make them kid-friendly. I’m thinking of a sweet cream cheese or cake ball mixture rolled in crushed Oreos with cookies, cinnamon chips, or thin wafer cookies for the wings.

3. Printable Paper Details

If you’ve followed HWTM for a while, you probably know that paper details are my thing.   They are just such an easy way to add personality to any celebration!

For this shoot, I used our Spells and Potions collection in the purple/orange colorway. Many of the pieces—including the banner—are editable using our online customizer!

4. “Freestanding” Skeleton

Make a fast, cheap, and high-impact statement with a decorative paper skeleton that’s “freestanding” instead of stuck to the wall.

I found this neat vintage-looking skeleton on clearance at Michaels, then used glue dots and a dowel rod to prop him up on the table. I filled a Coke bottle with sand to anchor the dowel rod “spine” and used more glue dots to arrange and stretch out his arms and legs in specific ways on the table.

5. Salty Bones with Blood Dip

These “Salty Bones” are so easy to make using store-bought breadstick dough… and even more fun served with marinara “Blood Dip”!

Use push-pop containers to display them in a unique, unconventional way. Since each container only holds one breadstick, make sure to have a tray of extra “bones” nearby that guests (or family members) can grab as they please.

6. Tombstone Sandwiches

This is one of my favorite Halloween food ideas because it’s so easy and versatile! Cut finger sandwiches into tombstone shapes using a cookie cutter or just by free-handing them, as Sonny did here. Display the sandwiches on a kale “graveyard.”

I used a Ziploc back with a tiny hole cut from one end to pipe “RIP” on top of the tombstones in mustard, which worked well for these Reduced-Fat Smoky Cheddar Tombstone sandwiches. You can switch up the piping ingredient depending on the recipe, though—for example, use red jelly for PB&J “tombstones!”

7. Olive Spiders

If you really want to creep someone out, toss an edible “Olive Spider” in their martini or salad!

This recipe is very simple and easy to follow, but it can also be a little tedious because of how tiny the rosemary “leg” pieces are, so grab a friend to help you make them or put on a good show to keep you company while you work.

8. Dangerous Drinks

Use creepy, cautionary Halloween stickers to dress up your drinks. The cool vintage-looking “potion labels” I used here were also purchased on clearance at Michaels.

Another super easy idea that always looks great is to hook plastic spider rings around the base of stemware. For the drink itself, serve a blood-red punch or cocktail!

9. Speared Eyeballs {Drink Garnish}

You know the “dangerous drinks” mentioned above? Well – they get even CREEPIER with a bloody “speared eyeball” garnish. GROSS – I know… but that’s the point!

These are actually made from lychee fruit, raspberry jam, and blueberries, so they taste a lot better than they look. ;) Use them in sweet cocktails or any fruit-based punch.

10. Rotten Eyeballs

I realize that eyeballs are going through the wringer in this post.

For an easy Halloween treat on the healthier side, serve black grapes in sugar-free berry jello and dub them “Rotten Eyeballs.” This is a fun snack for special Halloween lunches, too.

11. Witch Cauldron Garland

This easy & inexpensive DIY garland was one of my favorite elements of this shoot! I’ve had a bunch of these little plastic cauldrons sitting in my Halloween storage bins for a couple of years (they were left over from a Harry Potter party a while back). You can always find them around Halloween time, but I’ve yet to actually use them for HALLOWEEN until now!

I embellished each with sequin trim, then strung them on some twine. They all slid to the middle at first, so I secured each handle with a little piece of twine to keep them in place, which worked like a charm!

You could really have fun with the embellishments on this one. Have plastic snakes or gummy frogs peek out of each cauldron, rim them with “candy drips,“ etc.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I hope you can use some of these tips! :)

P.S. Here are a few more tips from the shoot that weren’t covered above:

• Add height to your table with upside-down wooden crates and mason jars wrapped in cheesecloth
• Add festive bling to jars, dishes, and frames with adhesive rhinestones
• Black cheesecloth is the perfect material for a cool Halloween table backdrop

Potions Halloween Party Printables

My Potions Halloween Party printables are available in our store. They make it so EASY to add pro designer style & personalization to your event. It’s like instant branding for your party!  Click here to shop now.